PhoneArena Awards 2012: App of the year

It isn't what your smartphone can do, it's what you can do with your smartphone. And for the most part, what you can do with your smartphone depends on what app you have installed on it. Speaking of apps, we got to try a lot of them over the past 12 months – some useful and easy to use, others not so much. A handful of these apps, however, stood above the rest, so we decided to dedicate an entire post to them.

Ladies and gents, today's category in the PhoneArena Awards of 2012 is for the app of the year! And actually, we won't be honoring a single application. Instead, we've decided to share with you our 5 favorite apps of 2012, just because the nominees for the top spot were so many.

Now go check them out below and tell us what you think about the apps we've picked. Would you agree with our selection, or you'd rather recommend some other app as the best one introduced this year? Sound it off in the comments!

Imagine a world, in which information is readily available at your fingertips, exactly at the time when you need it. Sounds like tech of the future? Well, not really because that's exactly what Google Now is all about. By analyzing a user's behavior, it is able to provide relevant information at just the right moment: it displays weather information right when you're about to leave for work, for example, or it can recommend alternate driving routes in case it detects you might be late for that important meeting.

Google Now

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Chances are that if you have a smartphone or a tablet, you often use it to surf the internet. And if you do a lot of web surfing from your mobile device, you better have a decent mobile browser. Google Chrome is probably the best alternative web browser you can get for either iOS or Android - it is reliable, functional, and most importantly, pretty darn fast. What's more is that once you log in, the bookmarks and browsing history stored in Chrome on your desktop computer will magically synchronize with the mobile app, and vice versa.

Chrome

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And speaking of browsing the web, Pocket is a browser extension you should definitely have installed. Simply put, it is one of those "read it later" apps. With its help, you can pin articles, videos and other stuff so that you can check them out whenever you have time. Once you're ready to enjoy an article you've saved, the app optimizes the page's layout and removes all unnecessary content for a more pleasant experience. Pocket works on both desktop computers and mobile devices.

Pocket

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Sometimes less is more, don't you agree? A minimalist, easy to use app is often more practical to have than something unneededly complicated. So if you need an application that can act as your digital task organizer, check out Clear. It is a simple piece of software used for managing to-do lists and taking quick notes. That's pretty much it! The app is liked for its elegant, uncluttered interface and for its ability to sync with iCloud.

Clear

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Swiftkey is most likely the last Android on-screen keyboard you're ever going to use. It is comfortable, accurate, and pretty smart too. Not only that it does a great job at predicting your each word by adapting to the vocabulary you use, but with version 3, which got released earlier this year, a new feature got introduced that could insert missing spaces between words, thus speeding up your typing even further.

SwiftKey 3

Imagine a world, in which information is readily available at your fingertips, exactly at the time when you need it. Sounds like tech of the future? Well, not really because that's exactly what Google Now is all about. By analyzing a user's behavior, it is able to provide relevant information at just the right moment: it displays weather information right when you're about to leave for work, for example, or it can recommend alternate driving routes in case it detects you might be late for that important meeting.

PhoneArena Awards 2012: App of the year

1. Google Now

Imagine a world, in which information is readily available at your fingertips, exactly at the time when you need it. Sounds like tech of the future? Well, not really because that's exactly what Google Now is all about. By analyzing a user's behavior, it is able to provide relevant information at just the right moment: it displays weather information right when you're about to leave for work, for example, or it can recommend alternate driving routes in case it detects you might be late for that important meeting.

2. Chrome

Chances are that if you have a smartphone or a tablet, you often use it to surf the internet. And if you do a lot of web surfing from your mobile device, you better have a decent mobile browser. Google Chrome is probably the best alternative web browser you can get for either iOS or Android - it is reliable, functional, and most importantly, pretty darn fast. What's more is that once you log in, the bookmarks and browsing history stored in Chrome on your desktop computer will magically synchronize with the mobile app, and vice versa.

3. Pocket

And speaking of browsing the web, Pocket is a browser extension you should definitely have installed. Simply put, it is one of those "read it later" apps. With its help, you can pin articles, videos and other stuff so that you can check them out whenever you have time. Once you're ready to enjoy an article you've saved, the app optimizes the page's layout and removes all unnecessary content for a more pleasant experience. Pocket works on both desktop computers and mobile devices.

4. Clear

Sometimes less is more, don't you agree? A minimalist, easy to use app is often more practical to have than something unneededly complicated. So if you need an application that can act as your digital task organizer, check out Clear. It is a simple piece of software used for managing to-do lists and taking quick notes. That's pretty much it! The app is liked for its elegant, uncluttered interface and for its ability to sync with iCloud.

5. SwiftKey 3

Swiftkey is most likely the last Android on-screen keyboard you're ever going to use. It is comfortable, accurate, and pretty smart too. Not only that it does a great job at predicting your each word by adapting to the vocabulary you use, but with version 3, which got released earlier this year, a new feature got introduced that could insert missing spaces between words, thus speeding up your typing even further.

how the heck is messaging an App of the year? You Apple fanboys really know how to grasp at straws. Google has the top 3 on the list because they actually innovate, performance be damned (worth noting that they also innovate with non-apps like Butter that save increase fluidity), unlike Apple who refuses to add anything new for fear of causing a flutter in their archaically simple OS.

We really do. I honestly can't see how that wasn't picked up, especially due to the references about the static line glitch, 'it changes everything again' AND iOS maps in 1 comment.
I've seen a comment before which too was anti-Apple, but the sarcasm picked up. Are the readers here braindead?

I'm going to be totally honest, I didn't expect Chrome to be on here. The iOS version is good for syncing and pre-loading pages, but is a bit crippled due to App Store limitations. The Android version is often criticized, and many say that Google should have left it in beta longer and stuck with the stock browser.

is PA being recently scared of putting anything apple there so the readers dint hate them, as I haven't seen anything apple in recent awards. they probably learned its not worth here as everyone is Android fan. or does apple really have nothing to offer anymore?

I agree with Google now, chrome for mobile, and pocket. They are really best app for this year. I'm using chrome in my galaxy tab 7.7 almost everyday since I update my tab to ICS. For pocket, I used it in dolphin browser, its easier to use, I still can't figure out how to use it in chrome for mobile.

I'm not impressed with Google Now, so far. This morning, it suggested a longer route than what I normally take. I decided to launch the navigation app to see if my regular route was congested. In fact, my regular route was clear and was faster.

My list: Firefox (tablet version) for the best browser, Google+ is very beautiful and stylish social app, Google maps with street view, catch notes for the best notes, go launcher ex for the best launcher. This is my apps I use almost every day. Most of all I like Firefox browser on my galaxy note tablet.

I have the latest Swift Key 3 keyboard (paid version), and there's one feature that annoys me, just like it annoyed me on the default Galaxy Nexus. The enter key, is a smiley face. I have to hold down the smiley so I can use the enter key (to skip lines in texts). Is there a way to change that so that the default is the enter key? And the smiley is activated with a long press? This only happens in the Messaging App, but it's annoying.

I have Swiftkey as well (paid), and it's the opposite for me. Hold down enter to get to the smileys. It doesn't change when you switch themes either. I don't know what to tell you, it doesn't look like there are any settings for your issue. All I can say is to shorten the long-press duration time to make it a bit easier.

I think it's a matter of what phone you use. It optimizes based on the default keyboard you have. For instance, I bet your default Android keyboard doesn't have that smiley, and mine does on the Galaxy Nexus. So it laid out in that way.

apple has a tendency of ripping android and not getting sued. i wonder why android app makers simply rip off apple's keyboard. i think apple makes the best keyboard. keyboard and the app store is the only remaining bits of apple iphone i would like replicated or topped for android. however the new swiftkey flow is really good. its much better than 3

The only good thing about iOS's keyboard is the pop up you get when you press a letter. Other than that, I got nothing. I hate having to switch beaten letters and number, the symbols are on a whole other page, and why on earth would apple not put the dollar sign on the same page as the number? I think these other app makers make better keyboards and Apple should take notes.

My favorite app right now is one I just found yesterday called 'Idle Time Connection Manager' for turning my data off when I put the screen to sleep, and brings it back on after I've unlocked to the home screen.

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